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NewswireTODAY - /newswire/ -
Baton Rouge, LA, United States, 2015/12/17 - Author Landon Roussel has recently published his memoir, "On the Primitive Way," recounting his journey with his brother Cory on an ancient pilgrimage in Spain after over a decade of estrangement due to Cory's drug addiction and imprisonment.
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When the author proposed to his younger brother Cory that they walk the Way of St. James, the circumstances couldn’t have been more inopportune. Landon was in his last year of medical school, preparing for a cross-country move from Texas to Massachusetts for residency with a newborn child at home. Cory, recently released from federal prison, was jobless and penniless.
In spite of these outward circumstances, this was right time for them to make this pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. These two brothers had scarcely communicated with each other for more than a decade. Cory’s addiction to drugs and alcohol and eventual imprisonment had driven a rift between the two brothers who were as children inseparable.
In their grueling trek through blizzard and torrential rains with threadbare accommodations in the mountains of Asturias and Galicia, the author finds that the struggle to get to Santiago de Compostela is more than just a battle to survive the elements. It is an opportunity to find healing of a tumultuous past with his brother.
Praise for On the Primitive Way
“On the Primitive Way is the first Camino memoir to chronicle not only the Way of Saint James but also the way of two brothers: their separation, reuniting and healing on their pilgrimage.”
- Martin Sheen, award-winning actor starring in The Way (2010)
If you’ve walked El Camino from Saint Jean, On the Primitive Way will make you want to walk it from Oviedo.
- Kurt Koontz, author of A Million Steps
“On the Primitive Way is more than another Camino memoir, it is a story of two brothers, estranged by addiction and reconciled on the Way. Anyone who has had a family member or loved on suffering from addiction will relate to Landon’s description of his struggle to love his brother even when he continues to fall deeper into substance abuse.”
- Beatriz Gonzales-Stephan, Lee Hage Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies, Rice University
“After eleven centuries of history, the pilgrimage still has the ability to work "miracles." This is what Cory and Landon experienced as pilgrims in On the Primitive Way. Passing the seven mountain passes that occur between Oviedo and Santiago, a metaphor for the difficulties in life they had to overcome, they were able to find at end peace, true brotherhood and harmony with nature.”
- Anton Pombo Rodriguez, best-selling author of Camino guidebooks
About the author
Landon Roussel is a three-time pilgrim of the Way of St. James. After the death of his younger brother Cory in October 2014, he was inspired to write the On the Primitive Way, chronicling his experience on the Way as well as his relationship with his brother. In addition to On the Primitive Way, he has written articles for Peregrino magazine and American Piligrims newletter. When he is not walking on the Way or writing, he is a primary care doctor and father of two. He and his wife reside in St. James Parish, Louisiana with their two children.
Book details
Travel memoir
Family history
Spanish culture
978-0996968102
Pages 224
$15 US
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ontheprimitiveway[.]communitaspress.com 
